Just in, Sheikh Hazim Abu Ismail, an important figure among Egypt’s Islamists, who bridged between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis — and who was even a former 2012 presidential candidate, before being disqualified — has been arrested.
The report does not indicate why Abu Ismail was arrested. But it is interesting to note that his name — along with President Morsi and other prominent Egyptian Islamists — was mentioned in a recent Libyan report as being involved in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
As news was announced that the anti-freedom, Sharia-pushing sheikh had been arrested, Egyptian protesters in front of the presidential palace celebrated by shooting fireworks and chanting “Still more! Still more!” — a reference to other Islamist leaders, namely of the Muslim Brotherhood, that many Egyptian protesters hope to hear are soon returned to their prison cells.
Update: “Still more” pro-Brotherhood Islamists have indeed been arrested. Among the latest batch are: Safwat Hegazy, of “the Brotherhood will rule the world” fame (his name also appeared in connection to the Benghazi consulate attack); Tarek al-Zomor, formerly imprisoned for his role in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, but released under Morsi; and Khaled Abdullah, an Islamist TV host. All of them are being charged with inciting violence and sectarian strife in Egypt.
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